Union warns of crisis in nursing recruitment

Monday, 25 April 2005 12:00 AM

Nurses are leaving the profession "by the thousands" and recruitment must double for staffing shortages to be avoided, according to the leading nursing union.

A report by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has found that staff are leaving the profession "by the thousands" because of the nature of the profession, with 50,000 nurses in the UK having left or retired in the past 12 months.

With only 20,000 new recruits coming through training in the UK this year, the union says that overseas recruitment for nursing has been stepped up. About 12,000 nurses from overseas are expected to join the NHS this year.

If the trend continues, the RCN warns, the number of annual new recruits required will need to double by 2014, to 66,000 new nurses a year.

Entitled UK Nursing Labour Market Commentary 2004/05, the report cites inflexible working hours and fear of violence as some of the main reasons for nurses leaving the profession.

The number of staff leaving is expected to rise as a larger degree of nurses stop their career to start families and the ageing population sees a larger number of nurses moving into retirement.

Dr Beverly Malone, the RCN's general secretary, said: "The Government has not only got to pay attention to bringing them in but keeping them in."

She also warned of the increasing reliance by the NHS on overseas workers to make up its staffing shortfalls.

About 45 per cent of staff come from outside the UK, but the RCN believes that these staff could easily be enticed to another country suffering similar shortfalls in the future.

The Conservatives Shadow Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, said that the Tories would recruit more nurses and tackle the drop-out rate.

Mr Lansley said: "Conservatives have pledged to recruit 30,000 more nurses by 2010. We are confident that if we give nurses more responsibility the NHS will retain more nurses effectively. Nurses will play a greater role in the delivery of care, acquiring responsibility for prescribing drugs and becoming specialists in the management of certain conditions.

"School nursing and the expansion of community nursing will offer a broader range of career paths, as will policies in the NHS to encourage staff to continue their commitment to the NHS. For nurses and midwives, we will offer enhanced access to bursaries to support them through their training, reducing the high drop out rate"

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